


i like you... the other you

by pastelsicheng



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Spiderman AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25650538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelsicheng/pseuds/pastelsicheng
Summary: Even after drifting apart from your friend Jaemin 3 years ago, you still have a big fat cr*sh on him. You've convinced yourself that you'll get over him someday, but maybe it's better that you didn't get over him after all because Jaemin has a big fat cr*sh on you too. All it takes is you telling him about your feelings and saying you like him. Well, telling the other him.Alternatively, in which you have a big fat cr*sh on Spider-man's alter-ego and Spider-man has a big fat cr*sh on you.
Relationships: Na Jaemin/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	i like you... the other you

**Summary:** Even after drifting apart from your friend Jaemin 3 years ago, you still have a big fat cr*sh on him. You've convinced yourself that you'll get over him someday, but maybe it's better that you didn't get over him after all because Jaemin has a big fat cr*sh on you too. All it takes is you telling him about your feelings and saying you like him. Well, telling the _other_ him. _Alternatively,_ in which you have a big fat cr*sh on Spider-man's alter-ego and Spider-man has a big fat cr*sh on you.

**Pairing(s):** spider-man! na jaemin x gender neutral! reader (no pronouns used)

**Genre:** spider-man au, high school au, ex-friends to lovers au, fluff with a tiny bit of angst

**Warnings:** cursing, scene with an almost car accident, lots of insecurity from reader's character lol, pining, also just an excessive amount of unnecessary scenes that have little to no interactions with jaemin

**Word Count:** ~15.3k

**A/N:** this is just a repost from my tumblr account (you can follow me @/pastelsicheng)

* * *

"You're staring," Jisung says. You tear your eyes away from the boy you were staring at and look down at your food.

"I'm not," you lie. You stab your fork into your lasagna a bit more aggressively than before and take a bite.

"Liar," Chenle says loudly. "You were staring at Jaemin again. Just admit that you have a crush on him."

"I don't have a crush on anyone." You glare at the younger boys who are staring you down in disbelief.

"That's like Lucas saying he doesn't like food," Jisung says.

"Hey! I love food!" Lucas plops down in the empty space beside you and sets down his cafeteria tray that is filled with food.

"Exactly," Jisung emphasizes. "You love food, and (Y/N) loves Jaemin."

"I do _not_!" you exclaim, reaching over the table to shove Jisung. He simply laughs, leaning back his lanky body away from your reach. Chenle and Lucas laugh at your antics.

"You can't reach me because you're too short," Jisung teases.

"Jisung, I will literally choke you," you say, you drop your fork into your container and get up from the bench to go to Jisung's side. The younger boy squeals as you approach him.

"I'm joking!" He's still laughing as he speaks, though.

"Respect your elders, you brat!" you exclaim, quickly wrapping your arms around Jisung's neck and putting him in a headlock. Chenle and Lucas are laughing at the two of you, and Jisung is squealing under your hold.

"I'm gonna die!" Jisung cries dramatically. His hands are gripping your arms, trying to have you let go of him.

"Say you're sorry," you tell him. "I'm not letting you go till you apologize."

"Agh! Okay, fine! I'm sorry! Let go of me now, please!" You let go of your death grip on Jisung, and he pretends to gasp for breath. You head back to your side of the lunch table, but not before ruffling Jisung's hair, successfully messing it up.

"My hair!" Jisung whines. "You messed it up! I spent an hour on it this morning."

"Aw, is wittle baby Jisung trying to impress someone?" You ask in a mockingly cute voice. Then in a normal tone, you continue, "Well, maybe you should have kept your mouth shut then."

"Didn't you hear?" Chenle says. "Jisung likes Mina."

"Shut up!" Jisung hisses. He elbows Chenle, who laughs his typical high-pitched laugh.

"She's my age though. That's way older than you," Lucas comments.

"I'm not tryna ask her out or anything," Jisung defends. His face is red in embarrassment.

"Lucas has a better chance of getting with her than you," you joke. Jisung glares at you.

"Excuse me," Lucas quickly says. "No offence, but nobody at this school is worthy of this handsome face."

Chenle opens his mouth to speak, but Lucas quickly reaches over the table and slaps his giant hand over it.

"Quiet!" he shouts. "Don't say anything!" He wraps his arms around Chenle's head to make sure he can't get away.

"Oh my god! Who is it that you like?" you squeal. In your 6 years of knowing Lucas, he had yet to have a crush on someone. For such a good looking guy, it was pretty shocking that he had never dated anyone. Especially considering that Lucas literally had most of the girls (and even a few guys) falling at his feet.

"Mmph!" Chenle cries through Lucas's hands.

"No one!" Lucas exclaims.

"Oh, come on! You have to tell us. I thought we were friends," Jisung whines.

"You don't need to know. Nobody knows." Lucas's cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"That's a lie. Chenle knows who you like," Jisung reasons.

"Because it's Chenle, and he has a way of finding out everything," Lucas says exasperatedly.

"Mmph!" Chenle cries again. He wiggles to try and get out of Lucas's tight grasp, but his attempts are of no avail.

"Unless you promise not to blab your mouth, I'm not letting go," Lucas says. Chenle makes a pouty face as best as he can with half of his face covered. His eyes turn down and his figure slumps forward.

"How's he supposed to answer if you're literally holding him hostage?" you ask.

"I'm gonna let you go, but if you say even a word about this, I will not hesitate to beat you up," Lucas says. He's hesitant, but he removes his hands and arms from Chenle's face. Chenle opens his mouth and Lucas slaps his hand right back on. "Nevermind. I don't trust you."

"I agree. Chenle's pretty scary," a voice behind says. You feel a hand on your shoulder and you jump, turning your torso around. You hadn't even realized someone had sneaked up behind you. 

"Holy fu-" you curse, but the person puts a hand to cover your mouth and cuts you off.

"Hey, no swearing! There are kids around," Haechan exclaims. He drops his hand from your face and motions towards Jisung and Chenle. "Babies. Right in front of you."

"They both have said and heard way worse than the f-word," you say, rolling your eyes.

"Yeah," Chenle agrees. "We're not babies. I'm only a year younger than you."

"Baby," Haechan states. He sticks his tongue out at Chenle.

"What's up?" you ask before Chenle can say anything. "Did you need anything?"

"Why are you assuming I want something? Can I not say hi to my bestest friend in the world?" Haechan asks, widening his eyes in mock innocence.

You bite your lip at that statement. Haechan wasn't a close friend, but he _was_ a friend. He was also part of Jaemin's group which was why you didn't bother to get any closer to Haechan. The two of you only really interacted during shared classes and occasionally through text. Most of it was because Haechan made the active effort to keep in touch.

"You only come to me when you want something," you say bluntly. It's partly true. Haechan only ever went out of his way to talk to you in person if he needed a favour. Otherwise he'd just shoot you a text.

"You're right," Haechan says. He scrunches his nose and pulls a piece of paper from his already unzipped backpack that's slung over one of his shoulders. "Mr. Yang said he'd give me extra credit if I bring in volunteers for prom. I already got my boys to come. Can you all come too?"

"I'm not trying to do all the work at my own prom," Lucas says.

"Isn't it better if you do, though? That way you'll have food you actually like and music you actually enjoy. Also, Mark said he's doing it too."

"Mark's gonna be there? Oh, you bet I'm coming. Where do I sign up?" Lucas asks. You hold back from rolling your eyes. _Of course_ Lucas would only do it because of Mark.

"Here. Just sign your name on this paper with your student number and email," Haechan instructs. He hands Lucas the paper and a pen.

"Do we get volunteer hours?" Jisung asks.

"Of course you do. You think people want to do free labour? That's called child exploitation."

Jisung snorts at Haechan's reasoning. "Alright, pass it over." Lucas hands off the sheet for Jisung to sign.

"Give it to me after," Chenle tells Jisung.

"You have to do it now, (Y/N). All of your friends are doing it," Haechan says.

"Not all of my friends. Just the boys," you retort. But you take the paper from Chenle anyway and sign your name and information.

"The boys are all you need, don't you know that?" Haechan asks.

"Not if they're you," you joke and hand him his pen and paper back.

"Shut up." Haechan flicks the pen at your shoulder. "I'll see you guys at the meeting tomorrow after school then. Thanks for the extra credit help." You wave bye at him as he leaves and heads back to his table with Jaemin.

"Hey, (Y/N), I saw Jaemin's name on the sheet. Maybe instead of staring at him, you can finally talk to him," Jisung says.

"Shut up!" you exclaim and reach over the lunch table in an attempt to smack him once again.

* * *

"Why don't you just man up and talk to him instead of staring like a creep?" You're standing by Yeji's locker, waiting for her to finish packing her bag so that the two of you could leave school.

You tear your eyes away from the sight of Jaemin trying to kiss Jeno on the cheek and look at Yeji who closes her locker door shut. "I wasn't staring."

Yeji rolls her eyes as she clicks her lock back on. "You're always staring. I thought you said you were over him."

"I am over him." You're lying and Yeji knows it. But convincing yourself that you are completely over Jaemin Na is so much more easier than accepting the fact that you have a big fat cr*sh on him. Yes, you censored that word in your mind too.

"Whatever," Yeji sighs. The two of you walk side by side out the school doors, and down the familiar path home to your shared apartment building. "It's okay that you're not over him. Like, you obviously didn't get closure when you stopped being friends, but that just means you should just talk to him. It's okay to ask for closure, you know." Yeji is right, and you don't like it.

"But what's the point of confronting him now, nearly three years later? I can just get over him by ignoring him." Your words sound stupid to your own ears as well.

"Three years, (Y/N). Do you hear yourself? If you aren't over him after three years, how the fuck are you _ever_ gonna get over him?" Yeji exclaims. You're slightly taken aback by Yeji raising her voice and cursing. She never swore unless extremely frustrated. The fact that _you_ were the reason she was frustrated? ...It didn't feel so good.

"Yeji, it's hard for me, okay?" you answer defensively. "It's weird and awkward if I just suddenly ask him why we aren't friends anymore. Like, it's obvious that it's because we drifted apart into different friend groups, and because people just change over time. I don't know the current Jaemin and if I tell him I'm upset about him changing and us drifting apart, then I'll sound like a bitch."

"Don't you guys still say hi to each other or smile at each other in the hallways? Just start a conversation with him. Jaemin isn't gonna suddenly hate you."

You let out a deep sigh. "Yeji, I don't think talking to him is going to make my feelings go away. Just drop it, please. I'll get over it."

"(Y/N), no," Yeji huffs. She stops in the middle of the sidewalk and turns around to face you. She grabs onto your shoulders and stares you straight into your eyes. "You need to stop brushing your problems away. You sound so stupid trying to convince me that you'll get over Jaemin when we both clearly know that your feelings won't go away unless you get some sort of closure from him. You need to seriously just talk to him about this."

"I don't need to do anything," you huff. You pull away from Yeji's grip and continue walking down the sidewalk. From the corner of your eyes, you see Yeji catching back up to you.

"Fine. But (Y/N)? I swear to god, if I even hear you mention Jaemin's name, or ever see you staring at him again, I will dropkick you." The threat doesn't scare you much because Yeji is too nice to even step on an ant. The look she's giving you, though, is making you question whether you should actually feel threatened by her. She's giving you a dirty look as if she really _does_ want to dropkick you.

But like you do every other problem in your life, you brush it away. If Yeji really did hurt you, then that was future you's problem. You couldn't be bothered to care about it right now.

* * *

Sunsets were the one time of the day that you really felt at peace. Even with the amount of homework you had procrastinated on and had to finish, you admired the 30 minutes of the sky changing into different hues of orange, blue, yellow, pink, and purple.

Right now was no different. You stood on the balcony of your apartment, looking at the sky as it changed colour by the second. Tonight's sunset was a faded orange, yellow, and blue, with the blue sky turning darker as the sun went down. It wasn't the most beautiful one you've seen, but still pretty.

You see a small, black silhouette flying through the sky between buildings. Spider-man. He often frequented the same route around this time, you had noticed.

You watch as he slings from web to web across the horizon until he's too far gone for you to see. You're sure he's out there somewhere fighting criminals and saving people's lives.

Maybe it was because you hadn't interacted with him _ever_ , but Spider-man intrigued you. You wondered who would willingly put their life at risk just to save random strangers. You were all about vigilance, but to just be out in the city nearly 24/7, waiting for something bad to happen? That struck you as odd.

You also wondered how he even managed to make the web-shooters strong enough to hold his weight, and sticky enough to stick onto buildings. There was only so much chemistry and physics knowledge you had as a high school student, and none of it helped answer your questions.

Spider-man, Spider-man, Spider-man. Your mind was occupied, once again, by another male. A male who you weren't even a hundred percent sure was actually male. It could have easily been a female under that mask and suit, albeit a flat chested one, and you wouldn't even know. All because you didn't know Spider-man.

The sky is now a darker shade of blue than it was earlier. You watch as the yellow and orange of the sun fades away from the sky until there's nothing but black and navy colours and the waning moon.

* * *

It's after school the next day, and you're tempted to skip the prom meeting. Lucas is chatting away with Mark, and though you really do like Mark because he's a sweet boy, it's awkward because he's close friends with Jaemin. You'd asked Yeji on your walk to school if she or any of the other girls were coming to the meeting. They weren't. All of them were smart and told Haechan no.

Jisung and Chenle haven't shown themselves either. As much as you like to pride yourself in knowing a lot of people, you aren't close with anyone who's waiting around the door for Mr. Yang to come. A lot of them you recognize to be seniors, and so you're stuck standing beside Lucas awkwardly as the two boys talk about their shared senior-level class.

"Honestly, Ms. Han is the absolute worst. I'm not going to be accepted into any university and it's all because she hates everyone and cuts marks for absolutely no reason," Lucas whines.

"Same dude, oh my god. (Y/N), just pray you don't have Ms. Han for chemistry next year," Mark says, trying to include you in the conversation.

"Yeah," you answer, smiling awkwardly.

"I honestly wish I switched out of her class as soon as I got my schedule," Lucas says.

"Are you talking about Ms. Han?" It's Haechan who speaks. He daps up Lucas and Mark and nods his head at you in greeting. "Man, I had her for science freshman year and she hated everyone except Jaemin."

"That's because Jaemin is smart." This time it's Renjun who speaks. Jeno, Jaemin, and him walk up from behind Haechan.

"That's true," Mark agrees. "She's always mentioning Jaemin in class and saying how a junior is smarter than our entire class collectively."

"Shut up, guys. I'm not that smart," Jaemin says modestly. Haechan slugs him in the arm.

"Are you serious?" Haechan cries. "You're literally at the top rank in our school. Stop tryna be humble. It makes us dumb people feel bad." Jaemin opens his mouth to protest, but Jeno speaks up.

"Yeah, and you're Ms. Han's favourite. She literally loves you. Like I swear you're the first student she actually likes here. Even Doyoung said she hated everyone when he was here."

The boys weren't lying. Jaemin was practically the pride and joy of the school. Not only was Jaemin a super smart Asian, but he was also good at singing, dancing, swimming, basically anything and everything you could think of. He was also super kind and humble on top of that. You didn't believe that perfect people existed until you met Jaemin. The boy had literally no flaws, and no that wasn't your big fat cr*sh on him speaking.

"You guys are being too nice," Jaemin says. "I'm really not that great."

"Oh my lord," Haechan says in frustration. "(Y/N), you agree, right? That Jaemin is the Mr. Perfect of our school?" At the sudden mention of your name, and the eyes of all the boys on you, you stutter.

"U-Um, yeah! Yeah. He is." You swallow and pray that Chenle and Jisung show up so that you don't have to stand around Jaemin for any longer.

"She doesn't actually believe that," Jaemin says. "She's just saying that because you told her to, Haechan."

"No, no," you pipe up again. "I really do mean it. You're really smart and nice and good at everything..." You trail off because you can feel your face heating up in embarrassment.

"Thanks, (Y/N)." Jaemin smiles shyly and you cough, turning your head from him. You're saved from your awkwardness by Mr. Yang, who comes rushing to unlock the classroom door.

"So sorry for being late," Mr. Yang apologizes. "I don't know why the door was locked, I told Mr. Wu to keep it open before he left."

"I've brought a bunch of volunteers," Haechan says.

"I can see that. Come inside first, we can talk later," Mr. Yang replies.

Jaemin ends up behind you as you enter the class, and as you are about to find an empty group of desks to sit at, Jaemin grabs your arm.

"Hey, come sit with us," he says.

"Um..." You're staring at his hand that's holding on to you. Jaemin doesn't notice your discomfort, though.

"Lucas is sitting with us because of Mark, so you can sit with us too. That way you won't be lonely." Right. He was just being nice. There was absolutely no reason to overreact about him holding your arm because Jaemin was just a touchy person in general, and you knew that.

"Chenle and Jisung are coming too, I don't think there'll be enough seats at the table," you say. You can't look Jaemin in the eyes, so you stare at his forehead instead.

"We can just bring some chair overs if we need to. It'll be fine." Jaemin doesn't wait for your answer before pulling you along to the table.

The other boys are already seated. The desks are grouped in fours, with two desks against the other two. Lucas, Mark, Haechan, and Renjun are seated in front of desks, while Jeno has a chair pulled out next to Renjun. There's another chair beside Jeno and next to Lucas, and Jeno pats it, motioning for Jaemin to sit.

"Go sit there," Jaemin tells you. "I'll bring a chair for myself."

"Okay," you reply quietly. You're glad that at least Lucas would be near you. You shift the chair closer to Lucas so that Jaemin sits in between you and Jeno. Chenle and Jisung are still nowhere to be seen, so you're stuck sitting awkwardly as everyone around you is engaged in their own conversation.

"How have you been?" Jaemin asks you once he's seated on his own chair beside you. His knee is leaning against yours and the contact makes your skin tingle. Jaemin doesn't pay much heed to it, though. You have to remind yourself that this was nothing. Jaemin was just a touchy person and didn't know what he was doing.

"I've been good, how about you?" you reply.

"I've been alright. We haven't talked in so long, dude." Jaemin's statement is innocent, but it has you thinking. When _was_ the last time you had an actual conversation with Jaemin?

"Haha, yeah. I guess," you reply. Each second that passes by feels like an hour, and you're still hyper-aware of his leg that's leaning against yours. _Awkward, awkward, awkward. Why the hell are you so awkward for?_ You find it difficult to even lift up your gaze, instead, resorting to staring at your clasped hands resting on your lap.

"Oh! I think your friends are here."

Your eyes shoot to the door of the classroom. Jisung and Chenle look around the room before their eyes finally settle on your table and head your way.

"'Sup," Jisung nods in greeting to the rest of the boys. Chenle and him grab chairs and sit across from you, on the other side of the table group. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket and pull it out to check what it is.

[Jisung Pwark]: so.... did you talk to you know who yet?

[You]: yes I did but shut up pls. I will tell you everything later

[Jisung Pwark]: omg do you have tea to spill???

[You]: never say that ever again

You turn your phone on silent and slip it back into your pocket. Jisung widens his eyes at you and you scrunch your nose at him in return.

"Oh, do you want to sit with your friends?" Jaemin asks. His sudden question has you turning your head to look at him, and you realize how close you two really are. You feel self-conscious, mentally praying that Jaemin does not notice the 3 pimples on your forehead, like you noticed how soft and smooth his skin is.

"Um, no. It's okay," you answer, but Jaemin is already nudging Jeno and telling him to get up.

"Yo, Jeno. Let's go sit there." He motions to where Jisung and Chenle are seated. "You guys can sit beside (Y/N)." The rest of the table goes quiet, watching you and Jaemin.

"It's fine, I can just move my chair-" you try to say, but Jeno and Jaemin are already getting up. Chenle and Jisung hurry to your side, Jisung taking the seat beside you.

"Damn, did you scare him off or something?" he asks teasingly. You force a smile on your face and poke his side in return.

"Shut up, Jisung."

* * *

The walk home after the meeting is a weird one. Mark had offered to drive you home, but you declined, partly because you didn't feel comfortable being in the same car as Jaemin's friends, and partly because you wanted some time to be alone.

Lucas, the gentleman that he is, offered to walk you home, but you declined his offer as well. Lucas lived on the opposite side of town with Chenle and Jisung. You didn't want to make him walk such a long distance to your home and back to his, especially when there was still broad daylight outside. You'd be fine on your own. So with the promise to text him once you were home safe, you headed off by yourself.

With your earbuds plugged into your ears, you think about Jaemin. Of course, you thought of Jaemin. You knew the teasing comments from Jisung and Chenle about Jaemin wanting to get away from you weren't ill-intentioned, but they still made you feel bad about yourself.

_Did Jaemin really not want to be around you?_ It didn't make sense though, because he was the one who gave you his seat and offered you to sit with him and his friends. He even attempted to keep a conversation with you when his best friend was seated right beside him. But then again, Jaemin was nice to everyone. Kindness was just in his nature, and maybe he really did dislike you.

You really shouldn't have been overthinking your very small interaction with Jaemin. Instead, you should have been thinking about how long it would take you to hand make the table decorations with Jisung and Chenle. Mr. Yang wanted 60 balloon weights and 30 centrepieces. Your deadline was in two weeks, and knowing Jisung and his poop hands, you and Chenle would have to help him out. Yet it was Jaemin who occupied every single space in your mind.

In fact, you were so deep in your thoughts and distracted by the idea of Jaemin, that you didn't even notice a car doing a left turn and about to hit you as you walked on the crosswalk.

"Watch out!" You feel someone grab you from behind and the next thing you know, you're in the air.

"Oh my god!" you shout. Your eyes are wide open as screams leave your mouth. A moment later, you're on the other side of the road.

You jump away from the body that's holding onto you. "What the-" The words get stuck in your throat when you realize who just saved you. Spider-man.

"You need to be more careful when you're crossing the road. Some of these drivers don't know how to drive." It's a male voice. Okay, so Spider-man is actually a guy... or maybe it's a voice changer? Your mind is reeling with so many thoughts that you don't register any of his next words.

"S-Spider-man?" you manage to stutter out. You can hear how fast your heart is beating in your ears, and you don't know if it's from the rush of nearly getting in a car accident, or from meeting Spider-man for the first time. Around you, a small crowd is starting to form. Some people have pulled out their phones to record. Though you don't consciously notice it, Spider-man does.

"Hey, let me get you home. I don't think you're okay," he says. You don't get a chance to reply, or even react. The next thing you know, you're flying in the air again.

You scream and cling onto Spider-man as tight as you can. "A warning would have been nice!"

"Sorry!" he shouts back.

Curses and shouts of 'oh my god' leave your mouth every time you feel yourself fall when Spider-man releases a web just to create a new one.

Your muscles are shaky by the time you're set down, that you nearly collapse to the ground.

"Woah, be careful," Spider-man says. He holds you upright. You notice you're at your apartment building and panic.

"How the hell do you know where I live?" you demand pushing away from him. You wrap your arms around yourself protectively.

"Uh... I know where everyone in the city lives," he answers. You narrow your eyes at him. You can't see his face because it's covered by that damn mask, so you can't tell if he's lying or not.

"That's creepy," you state. "Do you always drop home the people you save?"

"Only the ones who look like they need the extra help." You're not sure if that was an indirect insult to you. _Was he implying that you look like you're weak and need help to get home?_

He must have realized what he said because he tries to cover it up by saying, "I mean, like, I drop people home if they get surrounded by huge crowds, you know? Because I know it gets kinda annoying having to deal with people questioning you with phones and cameras in your face. It's my fault so I wouldn't exactly be a good samaritan if I left you to deal with the crowd."

"Whatever you say, creep."

"Hey, I promise I'm not a creep, (Y/N)!" Spider-man cries. "I just have a really good memory!"

You freeze. "How do you know my name too?" you ask harshly.

"Like I said. I just know everyone." You can hear the nervousness in his voice, though.

"You're such a creep, what the hell?" you exclaim. "If you weren't also out here saving people, I'd think you were some weird stalker who deserves to be in jail."

"I'm only sixteen! I'm too young to go to jail," he defends.

Your mouth drops. "You're only sixteen?! You're lying. You're at least twenty." You're in shock, A sixteen-year-old, someone the same age as you, was out saving the city? No fucking way.

You're about to ask more questions, but you hear the buzz of what sounds like a radio, followed by a voice. "We need a crew at the intersection of fourth and sixth avenue. Alleged bank robbery."

"Ah, I gotta go. Take care, (Y/N)." Spider-man raises his hand and shoots a sling of web. He waves goodbye with his other hand and leaps off the concrete sidewalk. You watch in awe as he swings away. A fucking sixteen-year-old was going to go stop a bank robbery, and you couldn't even cross the road without almost getting hit by a car. That same sixteen-year-old also knew where you lived and your name. _Just great_.

* * *

"No way he's sixteen, he was probably lying to you. No sixteen-year-old has a body _that_ nice," Jisu says.

You're in the library with your philosophy class, seated at a table with Yeji, Jisu, Jisung (whom you just called Han), and Felix, who were all in your class. Lucas, whose Mandarin class was also in the library, was also with you all. You were technically supposed to be working on your group project, and Lucas was supposed to be doing some reading assignment, but your teachers didn't really care much to make sure you were on task.

"Um, hello? I looked like that?" Lucas says.

"Shut up, Lucas. You were just as lanky back then as you are right now," Jisu shoots back. The group of you giggle and Lucas lets out an offended gasp.

"Jeno has a nice body," Han says.

"That's because he's a dancer," Jisu replies. "Dancers have good bodies. Yeji does too."

"No, I don't," Yeji denies. "But the real question is, how does he know your name and where you live? That's super sus. There are at least several thousand people that live in our city. It's not possible to memorize every single person's name and address unless he's a creep, which I now think he is."

"Yeah," you say with a frown. "I was wondering the same thing."

"What if it's someone you know? Like one of the kids in our school? Or someone that's been to your house before?" Felix suggests.

"The only friends that have been to my house are Yeji, Jisu, Jisung Park, Chenle, and Lucas, though," you reply.

Everyone looks at Lucas. "Why are you all looking at me? I _wish_ I was Spider-man, but I'm not."

"Sounds exactly like something Spider-man would say if he was trying to cover his identity," Han says with narrowed eyes.

"What?!" Lucas exclaims. "Why are you suspecting me all of a sudden?"

"It's not Lucas," you state before your friends can argue further. "Spider-man was shorter. Also, if it was Lucas, I'd know."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Lucas asks.

You shrug. "It means exactly what I said. If you were actually Spider-man, everyone would know."

Lucas makes a face at you, offended. "All you guys do is bully me," he huffs. He crosses his arms across his chest.

"It's because we love you," Jisu says. She blows a kiss at Lucas, who gives her a disgusted look in return.

The conversation moves forward, yet in the back of your mind, you're still trying to figure out who Spider-man really is.

* * *

The March heat is sudden and not typical of the month, but with global warming anything is possible. Just yesterday you had on a light coat, feeling the chill of the spring breeze. Today, you are sweating on the walk home because you chose to wear a sweatshirt that was a bit too thick for the hot spring weather.

"It's so fucking hot," you whine as you walk beside Yeji. You fan yourself with both hands in an attempt to cool yourself down a little.

"You should've checked the weather before you left home, dummy," she replies. You huff in response.

"How was I supposed to know that there was gonna be humidity? We've never had humidity in March before."

"Maybe if you used your brain to think about literally anything else besides Jaemin, then you'd have thought to check the temperature with humidity like every normal person does."

"Hey! I don't always think about Jaemin," you defend, not even thinking about the rest of her statement.

Yeji rolls her eyes. "Try to deny it as much as you want. Everyone else knows he's always on your mind. Anyway, did you at least talk to him at the prom meeting?"

"Yeah, I talked to him. He gave me his chair and sat beside me and tried to hold a conversation with me until Jisung and Chenle came. Then he switched seats with them." You sigh. "I think he was just being nice and keeping me company because he knows I'm a loser with no friends. I bet he actually doesn't like me. Like, why else would he switch seats as soon as he saw Chenle and Jisung?"

Yeji frowns. "I don't think he dislikes you. But then again, I don't know. Jaemin is nice to literally everyone. Oh, also I heard Kim talking about how she heard Jaemin's friends teasing him about a girl. He apparently has a crush on someone in our grade."

"Oh," you say. Your heart drops. Of course Jaemin has a crush on someone at the same time that you were finally considering talking to him.

"It's just a rumour though," Yeji adds quickly when she notices your face fall. "It's Kim. Half of what she says isn't true anyways. Remember when she told everyone that Mr. Little and Ms. Song were cheating on their significant others? And turns out they were actually married to each other? Don't worry about it too much."

"Yeah, okay," you say, but in your mind, it's not okay. If Jaemin had a crush on someone, then it was obviously not you. You don't just switch seats to get away from your crush. And because his crush wasn't you, that meant you _couldn't_ talk to him about your feelings unless you wanted to get rejected.

"Sorry," Yeji says regretfully. "I probably shouldn't have told you that, knowing that you overthink everything."

"It's fine," you reply. "I won't think about it too much." Yeji knows you're lying but doesn't say anything else about it. She knows that you'd talk to her when you felt like it.

"Well, changing the topic. How was it like flying in the sky with Spider-man?" She asks.

You let out a half-hearted laugh. "I barely remember it. I was just so shocked and scared from suddenly being picked up by a stranger and then being lifted into the air. I thought I was gonna die every single time he let go of a string of web and we'd fall for a few seconds before he shot out another."

"You're living the dream," Yeji says. "I wish I could swing around the city with Spider-man. Even if he is a creep. Flying is just cool."

You agree with her. "Yeah, I wish I wasn't so braindead when it happened. It just feels like a fever dream and I barely got to see the view because my eyes were closed for most of the time."

Yeji continues trying to distract you for the rest of your walk home, talking about Spider-man and whatever else she could think of. You know she feels bad about her words because that's just how Yeji was. But maybe she was right about your mind constantly being occupied by Jaemin, because now you couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he liked someone else that _wasn't_ you.

* * *

Today's sunset looks like cotton candy. Light pink and light blue colours illuminate the sky, and the pink and white clouds move through the air slowly with the wind. It had cooled down a bit from earlier, which you were thankful for, but it was still warm enough that you had to wear a short-sleeved t-shirt instead of a hoodie.

The sky is pretty, and you'd come out onto the balcony hoping to clear your mind. Yet for once your brain isn't at peace.

You lay your forehead on the rail and mumble to yourself, "Shut up. Stop thinking."

"Do you always talk to yourself?" The sudden voice and presence of someone beside you has you snapping up your head and letting out a yelp of surprise as you jump back.

"What the fuck?!" you screech. A familiar red and blue figure is now on your balcony, standing in front of you.

"Woah! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He holds his hands up in front of himself as if showing that he's harmless.

You narrow your eyes. "Are you stalking me or something? How do you know which apartment is mine?"

He sets his arms down. "I saw you standing out here and thought I'd check in on you after yesterday."

"Well, I'm fine. You've checked up on me. Now leave," you say harshly.

Spider-man ignores you. "I got you something," he says. He slips off the backpack that you didn't even notice he had on. He unzips it and pulls out a brown paper bag, holding it out for you to take. "Here."

You eye the bag warily. "What is it?"

"It's a Boston cream doughnut." He shakes the bag slightly, signalling you to take it. You sigh before reaching out your arm and grabbing the paper bag from him.

You open it up and peer inside. Just as he said, there's a Boston cream doughnut. You wonder if it's poisoned for a second. You were told not to take food from strangers, and Spider-man was technically a stranger. But then you think ' _fuck it_ '. If it was poisoned, then at least you wouldn't have to live another day of embarrassment and self pity knowing that Jaemin didn't like you. Plus, Boston cream was your favourite. If Spider-man had coincidentally brought you your favourite doughnut right when you were feeling absolutely miserable... well, you weren't going to just let it go to waste.

"Thanks," you say. "Boston cream is actually my favourite." You close the paper bag and set it on one of the lawn chairs you had on your balcony. You'd eat it later in the comfort of your bedroom.

"Oh, really? Hah, what are the chances?" He rubs the back of his neck and faces his body towards the view. He crosses his arms and leans against the railing. You copy his actions.

"Do you always check up on the people you save?" you ask him.

"Not everyone. Just some people," Spider-man answers. "But you looked like you were going through a crisis or something. Do you wanna talk about it? I've been told I'm a good listener, you know."

You hesitate. _Should you tell him what you were thinking?_ On one hand, you'd likely never see him again because that's just how Spider-man worked and telling your thoughts to a random stranger who'd likely forget about them in a few hours sounded really appealing. But then, you thought of your conversation at school in the library, and the fact that Spider-man might be someone you knew, maybe even one of your friends.

' _Fuck it_ ,' you thought again. If you were already going to be eating food from a stranger, might as well tell them your secrets as well. How much more embarrassed could you really get? If Chenle was right, then nearly everyone in your grade, and maybe even your school, knew of your crush on Jaemin.

"Okay." You face Spider-man, and he turns his head to look at you as well. You hold out your pinky. "Pinky promise you won't tell anyone?"

Spider-man looks at your pinky, then links it with his own. "Pinky promise."

You unlink your pinkies and face forward again. "There's this guy I've had a crush on for at least three years now, and he uh... He used to be my friend. We got close in middle school, but we drifted apart when high school started, and I realized I liked him after we stopped talking. It's stupid. Like I've tried to get over him, but it just doesn't work. And my friend has been pressuring me to talk to him because she thinks closure might help me get over him or something today. I found out today that there's a rumour about him having a crush on someone else who isn't me, though, so I just feel awful. Like, of course I have such bad luck that when I want to tell Jaemi- I mean the guy I like about how I feel, I find out that he likes someone else." You hope that Spider-man didn't catch Jaemin's name slipping from your mouth.

"I wasn't expecting relationship problems," Spider-man confesses. "I don't really know how to help with that, sorry."

"It's not relationship problems, it's just problems. I hate it."

"What if you try to be friends with him again? Do you still talk to him sometimes?"

"Yeah. We say hi in the hallways and smile at each other, but that's about it," you reply. "But I don't know if he'd want to be my friend." You explain the situation at the prom meeting and how Jaemin had switched seats with Chenle and Jisung to get away from you.

"Maybe he thought you were uncomfortable and wanted to sit with your friends? I think you're reading too much into the situation."

"Am I?" you question. Maybe he was right. You felt a bit insecure about it. _Were you reading into everything too deeply?_

"I think you should text him," Spider-man suggests. "Ask him if he wants to hang out or something. Get close to him again. And if you feel confident enough later, you can tell him how you feel. Honestly, I think he likes you. You know, boys don't necessarily say hi or smile at people they aren't friends with anymore. Even if it's someone they have nothing against."

"Really? Are you sure?"

Spider-man nods. "I'm a guy. I think I'd know how my own gender acts." He laughs lightly at his statement, and you crack a small smile, though it's slightly forced.

"Car accident at third and tenth avenue," a voice crackles through the same radio you'd heard last time.

Spider-man glances down at his suit. "Damn, I gotta go. I hate to leave you like this, though."

"It's alright," you say. "You've helped me enough. You know, for a fellow sixteen-year-old, you're not that bad at listening. But I think you do a better job at saving the city, instead of giving advice."

"Are you insulting me?" Spider-man cocks his head to the side in question.

You shrug. "Take it as you will."

"Well," Spider-man says as he jumps up onto the railing, "before I go, let me just say that I know Jaemin, and I think he would be flattered that you like him."

Your heart stops for a second. "Wait, what?"

"See ya, (Y/N)!" He leaps and slings a string of web to the apartment building next to yours.

You stand there in shock. Spider-man knows Jaemin? So he really _was_ someone you knew? God, you were so fucked if he even opened his mouth to Jaemin.

You let out a whine and slump your head onto the railing. "You're an idiot, (Y/N). An absolute _moron_."

* * *

It was raining the next day, almost as if Mother Nature could sense your mood and decided to give you some pathetic fallacy to fit the absolutely horrendous story that was your life.

You're seated beside the window of your physics class, and the sound of the fat raindrops against the glass along with the silence of your class save for the dead voice of your teacher makes you want to fall asleep. Your arm is propped up as a rest for your head that leans against your palm. The other hand plays with your pen, clicking the point out then back in with the help of the desk.

_Riiing_. The sound of the bell has everyone immediately packing up their bags, including yourself. 

"Everyone, please make sure to check the class site!" Mr. Kang announces loudly. "I'll have the rest of the lesson up there!"

You're out the door a few moments later, following your classmates as they head to the cafeteria for lunch.

"You look awful," you hear as soon as you slump down on the bench beside Yeji. You were slightly surprised to see her sitting at your table today, since she often hung out with her friends from dance, usually practicing one of their routines.

"I feel awful," you reply to Chenle, who had made the statement.

"Are you okay?" Yeji asks.

You shrug and sit upright, unzipping your bag and pull out your lunch bag with the lunch your mom had packed for you that day, pizza. Well, _cold_ pizza because it had been sitting in your bag the whole morning. You took a sad bite out of it. Public school sucked. They couldn't afford to even buy a microwave for you to use.

"Do you think if we petitioned to the student council to get us a microwave, they'd do it?" you ask.

"Doubt it," Yeji answers. "The dance team has been trying to get funding for years. That money just goes straight to athletics."

"Isn't dancing kind of a sport, though?" Chenle questions. "It's literally exercise."

"Not according to the fools in this school," Yeji grumbles.

"Damn, y'all look sad," Jisung says, arriving at your table. He drops his bag onto the table and slips his long legs over the bench to sit down.

"(Y/N), is bringing the mood down," Chenle says. Jisung looks at you in question, and you make a face at Chenle.

"The rain is making me feel things," you say. "Also, Spider-man visited me yesterday and I think I embarrassed myself again. I'm just waiting to die now."

"Woah, what?" Yeji squeaks. "He visited you again?" The boys also express their shock.

"No way! You're so lucky!" Chenle exclaims.

"Not really," you disagree. "I messed up so bad. He said he came to check up on me and I was just in a bad mood, so he offered to listen to my problems, right? And I was like, _'why not?'_ So I told him about everything with Jaemin, and right before he leaves, he says he knows Jaemin. So I'm fucked because he's for sure going to tell him, and Jaemin is going to think I'm weird for liking him for three years. He's never going to wanna talk to me ever again."

"You told him Jaemin's name?" Yeji asks in disappointment. "Come on, (Y/N), I thought you were smarter than that."

"It just slipped out once," you whine in defence. "I thought he didn't catch it because he didn't mention it, and then right before he leaves he says he knows Jaemin."

Jisung lets out a low whistle. "You got some bad luck."

You make a face as if you're about to cry. "Don't remind me." You take another small bite of your pizza.

"Speak of the devil and the devil appears," Chenle mumbles.

You lift your head to look at him weirdly. "Huh?"

"Hey, guys. Do you mind if I steal (Y/N) from you guys for a bit?" You turn around to see Jaemin. He smiles at you, and you turn your head back around so he can't see your face. You can feel the heat crawling up your neck and into your cheeks in embarrassment.

"What for?" you manage to choke out.

"Mr. Yang wanted to talk to you. Something for prom, I'm not sure. He didn't tell me."

"All of us?" you question.

"No, he just said your name." You bite your lip. Chenle, Jisung and Yeji watch you.

"K." You put the lid back on your tupperware container and slide out of the bench. "Watch my stuff," you say to Yeji.

"Okay," she answers. She gives you a look of worry and you force a smile on your face.

You follow behind Jaemin as he leads the way out of the cafeteria, and through the halls to Mr. Yang's classroom.

"You're not in trouble," Jaemin reassures as you walk together. You can hear your footsteps in the quiet hallway.

"Okay," you say. You feel awkward. _Did Spider-man already tell Jaemin?_ He didn't seem to be acting any different than usual, so maybe you were safe for now.

Jaemin opens the classroom door for you and you thank him quietly. Inside, you see Haechan, Jeno, Renjun, and Mark seated at a table, along with a few other people who were at the prom meeting the other day. You head to Mr. Yang, who's seated behind his desk. Jaemin follows right behind you. Mr. Yang smiles when he sees you.

"(Y/N), right?"

"Yeah," you nod your head in response.

"Don't look so nervous. You're not in trouble," he chuckles. You giggle along, though it's more because you really _are_ nervous. "You're doing the table decorations, right? I talked with Ms. Oh, who used to be the teacher that headed the prom committee. She gave me a bunch of boxes with decorations in them. I know the actual prom meeting isn't until tomorrow after school, but if you wanted to look through the boxes this evening with your friends you can do that. I'll be here anyway."

"Oh, okay," you say.

"Jaemin here is also planning on staying, right Jaemin?" You move your body so that you can see both Jaemin and Mr. Yang.

"Yeah, I'll be here," Jaemin answers.

"You haven't started the decorations yet, have you?" Mr. Yang asks.

You shake your head no. "No. We were planning on starting tomorrow during the meeting," you answer.

Mr. Yang lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the lord. I would have felt bad if you actually started." He laughs, and again you laugh along with him, though this time a bit less anxious. Jaemin joins in as well.

"No, not yet," you say again. "I'll let my friends know and we'll come by after school."

"Sounds good. Sorry for disturbing your lunch."

"It's okay."

"Alrighty. I'll see you later." Mr. Yang gives you a smile and you return one of your own. Then you head out the door and back into the hallway. Jaemin follows you.

"Wait up," he calls before you can get too far ahead. You walk slower, and you're anxious once again. _What did he want to talk to you about?_

"What happened?" you ask. You lick your lips nervously. Maybe you imagined it, but Jaemin's eyes glanced momentarily at your lips, then back to your eyes. You can feel your heart rate pick up.

"Uh, are you alright? I heard what happened the other day with Spider-man and you nearly getting hit by a car-"

You cut him off. "How'd you know?" Anxiously, you wondered if you were wrong and Jaemin had already spoken with whoever Spider-man was.

Jaemin rubs the back of his neck. "Well, I heard it from Mark who heard it from Lucas."

"Oh." You manage to calm yourself down slightly. Spider-man hadn't spoken to Jaemin. _Yet_. _Unless Spider-man was Mark?_

"Are you by any chance friends with Spider-man?" you ask.

Jaemin's eyes widen at your question, then he laughs. Not a small giggle or chuckle, but a booming laugh that echoed in the hallway. You immediately regret asking him the question.

"No," Jaemin answers. He licks his lips. "I met him once, but I'm not friends with him."

Part of you thinks he's lying. Your gut is telling you that Jaemin _does_ know Spider-man, but maybe you were just being paranoid. Even if Jaemin did know Spider-man, it's not like he'd tell you. The two of you weren't even friends anymore.

"Right. Just- just pretend I didn't ask that." You lower your head and turn around, walking back to the cafeteria. Jaemin doesn't follow you or try to stop you, which you're thankful for. You don't think you could handle any more embarrassment.

_You don't think you can handle any more of Jaemin._

* * *

After school comes around faster than you wanted it to. You take your time packing your backpack, waiting until the hall is mostly cleared out before you even try to make your way to Mr. Wu's classroom where the prom meeting was supposed to be.

As you pass by the exit doors at the side of the school, you notice the clouds. It's still gloomy and raining. You had an umbrella, but without Yeji to walk back home with, you know that Lucas would insist on you getting a ride or him walking you home.

You feel a buzz in your pocket and pull out your phone. It's a text from Jisung.

[Jisung Pwark]: yo where you at??

[You]: on my way. gimme a bit

[Jisung Pwark]: hurry up

You shove your phone back into your pocket and walk a bit faster to the room.

The door's wide open, and as soon as you step inside, your friends call out your name. Mr. Yang also lifts his head up from his phone to throw you a smile. You return it and head to where Jisung, Chenle, and Lucas are hanging around some plastic storage boxes. Jaemin and the rest of his friends are hanging around there too. All of the boys are going through the boxes, pulling out random items and making random jokes. You already feel a bit left out.

"Hey," you say, coming to stand beside Jisung. You drop your bag, umbrella, and coat on the desk nearby.

"You took forever," he comments. You shrug in response.

"Look at this!" Haechan pulls out several handheld props meant for a photobooth. The signs all read things that your principal would probably faint at if she saw. He holds up one and reads it out loud. "Getting laid tonight." The boys all burst into laughter, and you giggle along quietly.

"Mark would use that," Renjun says, nudging Mark.

Mark shoves Renjun in return. "Shut up."

Haechan reads another. "For legal reasons, I'm not drunk." There's another round of laughter.

"Oh, you're definitely not going to be able to use those. Toss them out," Mr. Yang pipes up. The boys let out a chorus of 'aw's. Haechan tosses the props into the garbage bag behind him.

"Should we split up the boxes and see what we can use?" Jeno suggests. "Like two or three of us take a box each."

"I call Lucas," Mark immediately says.

"Okay, I call Jeno," Haechan says.

You grab onto Jisung's arm so that he can't leave you to work with Chenle.

"Hey, (Y/N). Wanna work with me?" Jaemin asks. The question surprises you, and your grip on Jisung slackens.

"Oh, I was gonna be with Jisung," you say.

"There's an extra person, so you three can be together," Jeno says. You see him nudge Jaemin towards you.

"Oh, yes! Chinese buddies," Chenle says excitedly. He raises his hand for a high five and Renjun slaps his hand against Chenle's palm. You don't know when they became buddy-buddy, and Jisung looks just as confused as you, but you don't comment. Chenle just knew everyone. No one questioned how.

"Hey! I'm Chinese too." Lucas crosses his arms across his chest and juts out his bottom lip.

"You're the one who chose Mark, though," Renjun points out.

"Fine. We call dibs on this box." Lucas picks the heaviest looking box, and the other boys shrug.

"Have fun carrying that," Haechan snickers. Lucas looks as if he's struggling to pick up the box, and Mark helps him to ease the weight.

You let Jisung pick the box and carry it to an empty group of tables. Jaemin stands beside you as you wait for Jisung to bring the box over.

"You good?" Jaemin asks. You meet his gaze but look away immediately. Your eyes stare at the desk, your fingers tracing the chipped edges.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you reply. You're painfully aware of how close Jaemin is to you. You hope he can't feel the sudden body heat emitting from yourself.

Jisung drops the plastic bin onto the desk with a loud _thump_. He lifts the lid, and picks out the first thing he sees.

"Hey, look," Jisung gasps. He sets the crown on your head. "Haha, prom royalty."

"Oh! Is there a matching crown?" Jaemin asks. He leans over to peer into the bin. His face lights up when he finds what he's looking for, and he pulls out a matching crown of his own, setting it on his own head. "Hey, (Y/N), we match!"

You feel the heat rushing to your cheeks and rip off the crown from your head. "What if there's someone's lice on this?" you blurt out. Stupid, but it's the first thing you thought to say.

Jaemin gasps and rips the crown off his own head. "You're right. Oh damn, now we're gonna be lice buddies too."

"They've been in this bin for god knows how long, (Y/N)." Jisung rolls his eyes. "The lice are dead, if there even were any to begin with."

"Damn. I guess we're both stupid. Stupid buddies, heh." Jaemin throws you a grin, and you feel like you might combust. He definitely knew. Spider-man definitely told him.

"I need to pee, be right back." You rush out the classroom and head to the stairwell instead of the bathroom. The rain patters on the glass of the huge window, and you lean against it, trying to calm your racing heart down.

Jaemin knew. There was no other reason why he was making jokes about being buddies and matching. He was teasing you.

You were filled with sudden fury. He'd _pinky promised_ not to tell anyone. If Spider-man dared show his face in front of you again... well... you just created a hit list and he's the first and only person on it.

* * *

"Jaemin knows." You're laying in your bed, your phone on your ear as you talk with Yeji.

"What? How?" Yeji demands.

"I don't know," you wail. "He was like teasing me today when we were going through prom boxes. He kept joking about how we matched and stuff. Oh my god, _dude_. Jisung put the prom royalty crown on my head, and _this man_ searched the box for the matching crown just to wear it himself. I wanted to _die_."

"Woah, he _what_?!" Yeji practically shrieks. You can almost imagine her shooting up from where she's laying on her own bed. "(Y/N), I swear that's flirting, though? What did you do when he did that?"

"I ran away."

Yeji groans. "Of course you did."

"Hey! What was I even supposed to do?" you defend. "Spider-man pinky promised me that he wouldn't tell anyone, and then he literally didn't even wait a day to tell Jaemin. I didn't even have time to prepare."

"You could've, oh, I don't know. Maybe flirted back? (Y/N), you are absolutely hopeless. I thought you were going to talk to him about your feelings anyway. Why not just flirt back? It's not like he'd kill you or something."

"Yeji," you huff. "I have something called anxiety. Maybe you don't get it because you're a dancer and everything's so normalized that you don't get nervous anymore, but I literally cannot do anything in front of Jaemin. I can't flirt back because I get so embarrassed just being around him. I just _can't_."

She sighs. "Fine, I get it. I'm sorry. I just- I don't know. It seems like he likes you back, you know."

"You literally said that he likes someone else that isn't me."

"When did I say that?" Yeji asks. "I said that I overheard Kim talking about Jaemin liking someone in our grade. I never said who it was. For all we know, it could literally be you."

"But..." you pause. Yeji was right. Thinking back on it, you'd drawn the conclusions on your own and assumed that Jaemin didn't like you. "Oh."

"Yeah, _'oh'_ is right. You should ask him to hang out this weekend and see where things go from there. He seems interested in you."

"I just said I can't talk to him, though. Like I will literally combust. Also weren't you telling me to get over him a few days ago?"

"That was before I knew he liked you. You won't die, (Y/N). But if it's really hard for you to ask, I know Jisung and Chenle would be glad to ask for you."

"Oh, _hell no_ ," you say quickly. "No way am I letting those two idiots talk on my behalf. You know what Jisung said on the ride home? Lucas made me go in Mark's car and have him drop me off because of the rain, right? And Jisung says, 'take care of Jaemin's girl'. Like- dude! They all laughed, and I just had to sit in the backseat in embarrassment. Even Jaemin laughed."

"Damn, that's rough," Yeji comments. "But that just means you need to talk to Jaemin. Unless you want Jisung to say something stupid like that again."

You let out a deep sigh. "What if I don't want to though? Like, what if I don't want to talk to him at all? Can't everyone just collectively forget about my crush on Jaemin and move on with life?"

"Are you seriously going to make me have this talk again?" Yeji asks annoyedly. "Just text him if you can't talk to him in person. You have his contact still, right?"

You make a face to yourself. "Yeah..."

"So just text him."

"Fine. Okay. I'll text him. What do I say, though?"

"Wait, are you serious? You're actually gonna text him? Oh my god, finally!" Yeji exclaims.

"Yeji..." you called.

"Okay. Say, 'hey, I was wondering if you were free this weekend? My friends and I are going to see a movie and we need one more person to get the group discount.' or something like that." Yeji instructs.

"But we aren't going to the movies," you deadpan.

"You can just lie and say we cancelled at the last minute. You two meet up and then you can text me or call me and I can be like, 'yeah, we cancelled the plan. Didn't you know?' or something like that."

"Man..." You sigh because you really just don't want to do this. Nonetheless, you put Yeji on speaker as you pull up the messages app on your phone. Your finger types in Jaemin's name, and you click on his contact.

The last text in the chat is from you and it reads, 'np' in response to Jaemin thanking you for sending you the homework from your shared chemistry class the year before.

You click the message area, and your fingers hover over your phone's keyboard hesitantly.

"Did you send it yet?" Yeji asks.

"Um... not yet," you reply.

"What are you waiting for, (Y/N)? Next year?" Yeji questions.

"Yeah," you reply in a monotone voice.

"Come on. Let's get this done. Do you want me to draft the message out for you, and you just copy-paste it?"

"No, I'm not that useless," you say. "I can write it myself." You continue to stare at the screen and suddenly a message appears.

[Jaemin Na]: hey are you free to hang this weekend?

You stand up immediately, your phone held in your hands and your eyes staring at the message as if it was a delusion you just made up. "Yeji, he just texted me."

"Wait, what? What did he say?" Yeji demands.

"He asked, 'are you free to hang this weekend?' Holy shit. Did you tell him to text me that?"

"I didn't! But (Y/N), say yes!" Yeji is squealing in excitement while you are the exact opposite. Your heart is beating erratically in your chest out of anxiety.

A second message appears under the first.

[Jaemin Na]: as a friendly hangout or a date or whatever you would like to call it.

"Yeji! He just said we could call it a date or whatever I want!" Your voice is raised, but you're more in distress than you are excited.

"Dude! You have to say yes! He's totally hitting on you!"

You're hesitant, but your fingers type out 'ok sure' and you hit send before you can overthink everything.

"Okay. I told him yes," you state. All you hear on Yeji's side of the call are squeals of excitement.

"Yes!!! I'm so happy for you! I'm coming over to your house Friday after school to pick out an outfit, okay?"

You sigh. "Fine."

From over the call, you hear Yeji's mom call her name. "Shoot. Bad timing mom," she grumbles. "I have to go eat. I'll call you back later."

"K. Bye Yeji."

"Bye." The call ends. You see another text from Jaemin.

[Jaemin Na]: does Saturday sound good? around noon? I can pick you up

[You]: I'll meet you at the bus stop by my house instead

[Jaemin Na]: okay! That's cool too! See you then ;)

And just like that, you've scored yourself a date with Jaemin. Or maybe not a date, just a hangout. A friend date? You didn't know what to call it. The winking emoji has your heart fluttering and you have to remind yourself to chill out. It was only Wednesday. Jaemin still had two more days to cancel on you.

* * *

Friday comes around faster than you liked it to. The day before, at the prom meeting, you made sure to avoid Jaemin at all costs. He had tried to initiate conversation, but you brushed him off, afraid of embarrassing yourself. Looking back at it, maybe it wasn't the best thing to do when you literally said you'd hang with him on the weekend, but what else could you do? Surprisingly, he hadn't cancelled on you. _Yet_. Jaemin had already seen that you lost all sense of rationality when he was involved. His message would come anytime soon. You were just waiting for it.

Maybe that was why your friends had all decided they'd show up to your house. To make sure you gained _some_ rationality so that you'd be able to enjoy your time with Jaemin.

"When I said you could come over, I didn't mean you could bring literally _everyone_ over to my place," you huff at Yeji. Your small room is filled with your friends, most that you didn't even know were coming over. If you could, you would have shooed them away at the door, but your mom was the one who let everyone in. You think it's because of her love for Lucas.

"Did you think you could experience this historic moment without us?" Lucas cries. You question why your mom liked him so much. He was so weird.

"What historic moment?" you ask. "It's nothing special. You guys didn't have to come over."

"You're literally going on a date with Jaemin tomorrow, the guy you've been crushing on forever. Of course this is historic!" Yeji exclaims.

You sigh. A hand goes to your forehead to rub the nonexistent headache your friends were giving you.

"We're just here to make sure you don't dress like a hobo," Jisung says.

"Yeah!" Chenle nods in agreement with Jisung. "Plus, you didn't get our help when you went on that date with YangYang and look how that turned out."

"It wasn't a date, it was just a friendly hangout," you defend. "And my clothes had nothing to do with what happened."

"Oh yeah? Then how come you don't talk to him anymore?" Jisung asks.

"Yeah," Lucas adds. "I went through all that hard work finding you a guy and setting up a really nice date for you both, and you didn't even stay for the entire thing. You left after an hour. Not to mention you didn't even dress up nicely for it."

"It was an hour too long," you huff. "He was the human embodiment of the annoying orange. He even had the same annoying laugh!"

As if on cue, the three boys reenacted the laugh, before falling into a fit of their own laughter. Yeji laughs too and you're sitting on your bed with crossed arms, making an annoyed face at the rest of your friends.

"What happened with YangYang doesn't matter. Jaemin isn't gonna judge me for my clothes. He doesn't judge anyone by their clothes. I don't need all 4 of you here."

"Aw, guys! (Y/N)'s boyfriend doesn't judge people by their clothes!" Chenle squeals.

"Yeah, he judges them by their personality. Something (Y/N) doesn't have." Jisung grins at you.

"I can't believe you guys just came here to bully me in my own house. In my own room. On my own bed." You kiss your teeth at Jisung.

"But you love us," Lucas teases.

"I don't," you state monotonously.

"Yeah, you're right. You don't love us, you love Jaemin," Jisung states. You lift your arm to smack him, and he yelps as he flinches away from you so you can't hit him.

"Children don't fight," Yeji chides. You can't reach Jisung, but since Yeji is right beside you, you direct your arm towards her and smack her instead.

"Who are you calling children? You're a child too!" you exclaim.

"Ah!" Yeji cries. She grabs her arm in mock pain and falls back onto the bed. "I'm dying!" She closes her eyes and sticks out her tongue as if she's dead.

"Oh no! (Y/N), you killed her!" Chenle exclaims. He pretends to cry and so does Jisung.

Lucas closes his eyes and holds a hand to his chest as if paying his respects. "Rest in pieces, Yeji Hwang. Cause of death: (Y/N) beating the absolute crap out of her."

You let out a deep sigh, trying to feign annoyance, but the corner of your lip threatens to quirk up in a smile. "You guys are so weird."

Annoying. Your friends were annoying, but what would you give to stay by their sides for the rest of your life? Everything. If things didn't work out with Jaemin... well, at least you had your friends.

* * *

"I think I'm gonna die." You're video calling Yeji just twenty minutes before you're supposed to leave to meet Jaemin.

"You're not gonna die, (Y/N). Don't be dramatic," Yeji chides.

"My heart is literally beating so fast right now and my hands are sweaty. Also, my stomach is killing me. I think I might puke." You're pacing your room in your outfit. You didn't know if you could go through with this.

"(Y/N), hey. Listen to me. Take a deep breath. In... Now out... In... Out..." You breathe along with Yeji a few more times. Your stomach is still in pain, but your heart at least slows down. "You're okay, (Y/N). Just keep breathing. Do you want me to come to your house?"

You shake your head no. "It's okay. I don't wanna trouble you."

"It's not troubling me. I can come right now if you need," she insists.

"I'm okay. Thanks."

Yeji nods her head. "Okay, but if you need me to come, then tell me."

"Okay," you agree. Yeji was a good friend and boy, were you thankful for her.

"You look great, by the way."

"Thank you."

"Go wash your face and drink some water. You have like ten minutes, but knowing Jaemin, he's going to be late anyways. Call me later, okay? And don't forget to tell me how everything goes."

"Yeah, okay. Bye, Yeji." She waves bye and you cut the call.

You take a deep breath. You can do this. You can go hang out with Jaemin. It's not like you had to tell him how you felt or anything, you were just going to watch a movie, eat food, and walk around. You did that with your friends all the time.

_But they aren't Jaemin._

You throw your hands over your face and groan. Your brain wasn't on your side either.

Reminding yourself that you only had less than ten minutes, you head to the bathroom to wash your face, and follow as Yeji said before you leave the house.

* * *

Contrary to what Yeji said, Jaemin is actually on time. In fact, maybe even early. He smiles and waves when he sees you approaching the bus stop.

"Hey, (Y/N)!" he greets happily. You can already feel yourself getting nervous. _Deep breaths, (Y/N). Deep breaths._

"Hi, Jaemin." He's dressed in a pair of simple blue jeans and a black t-shirt, with an unzipped jacket. Somehow though, he manages to still make your heart speed up with how good he looks. 

"The bus should be here in like five minutes," he informs you. You nod your head in acknowledgement. Jaemin looks like he wants to say something more. He's staring at you, and you make sure to avoid his gaze at all costs.

"You look nice," he finally says.

"Thanks," you mumble. Neither of you speak after the exchange.

The five minutes feels more like five hours, and by the time the bus rolls around, you're already regretting saying yes. It's just so freaking _awkward_.

You tap your bus pass and head to the back of the bus, knowing the ride downtown to where the movie theatre is would take at least twenty minutes. You slide into the window seat, and Jaemin sits beside you. Due to his height and the small cramped space of the bus seats, Jaemin's legs are touching yours.

"I forgot to ask, but what movie do you wanna watch?" he asks.

"What's playing?" you ask back.

Jaemin tilts his head. "Hmm... one sec." He pulls out his phone to check the various movies and their timings. "Do you wanna watch one of the new movies that came out or a throwback movie? For throwback, today they're playing Mean Girls, Fight Club, White Chicks, The Shining, and Stuart Little."

"Oh, Stuart Little! I forgot about that movie. I think I still have the cassette for the second movie," you say, reminiscing your childhood. "I haven't seen it in forever, though."

"Do you wanna watch that then?"

"If you don't mind, then yeah," you say shyly.

"Yeah, I'm fine with whatever you want." Jaemin throws you a smile and you have to turn your head to stare out the window. _What was he so cute for?_ You don't know why you're being so flustered by him just _smiling_ , and internally you're beating yourself up for it. "It starts at two though, so we have a bunch of time to waste. We can walk around if you want."

"Yeah, sounds good."

The next fifteen minutes are silent. Neither of you speak, and you wonder whether it would be rude to plug in earbuds when you're supposedly on a date of some sort. Occasionally, Jaemin asks you a question, but your short responses end each attempt pretty quick. If this was how the rest of the day went, well, you would rather just die in a hole.

After getting off the bus, the two of you head to the street shops that were across from the movie theatre. "We can do some window shopping to pass time before the movie is actually supposed to start," Jaemin had said. So, that's exactly what you chose to do.

"Wanna look in here?" Jaemin asks as you pass a bougie looking clothing store.

"They'll kick us out for being poor," you answer.

"No, they won't. Come on." He grabs your arm and drags you along into the store, and you're too distracted to fight back. Your skin tingles as if it's on fire where he touches you, despite your coat sleeve being in the way.

Inside is even fancier than the outside. You feel out of place. The store was for rich people, and even the energy inside reminded you that you weren't rich. Jaemin doesn't seem to care though. He lets his hand drag through the hanging shirts in the men's section. You're too scared to even touch anything, and he's acting like this was his own closet.

Jaemin lets go of your arm to grab a pair of sunglasses and slips them onto his face. Black frames with dark grey tinted glass. "How do I look?"

_Really hot_. You swallow before speaking. "Good."

"Just good? Hm..." He puts them back and grabs another pair to slip onto his face. This time they're silver frames with heart-shaped glass tinted pink. "How about these?"

You read the tag that's sticking out from the glasses. "These are freaking eighty dollars."

"The other pair was like a hundred and you said I was just 'good'. I need to look _amazing_ ," Jaemin insists.

The store staff are staring at you two and whispering to each other. "You should probably put those back. They're staring at us."

Jaemin glances at the store staff, then back at you. He shrugs. "What are they gonna do? We're just browsing." He puts the heart sunglasses away and grabs your hand, leading you to the gender-neutral section of the store, which you were surprised they even had. Rich people things you guessed.

"Jaemin, I think they're calling security on us." The store workers are now talking on the phone, and the fear of getting in trouble overtakes the nervousness of Jaemin holding your hand.

"Relax, we're fine. There's other people here too, you know. They might be calling security for them." Jaemin's thumb rubs your hand in an attempt to soothe you. It doesn't work.

"Those people are rich. We're the only kids in here."

With his free hand, Jaemin grabs a random sweater from the racks. It's an ugly highlighter yellow colour and has an excessive amount of sparkles. "You should try this on."

"Huh?" Jaemin doesn't give you any time to question him. He drags you to the changing room and lets go of your hand, instead, shoving the sweater into it.

"Hi, can I help you?" the lady manning the changing area asks. She fakes a smile and leans her crossed arms on the desk that's there. You can tell she really doesn't like that you're here bothering her.

"Yeah, we need a room please," Jaemin says.

"How many items? Just this one?"

"Yep." Jaemin answers. She leads you both to the last stall in the area and hangs an occupied sign on it.

"Let me know if you need any help." She throws another forced smile at you two and heads back to her desk. You stare at the stall. Instead of the regular doors you were used to, there were floor-length curtains. _Did rich people not care about privacy?_

"I won't open the curtains while you're changing if that's what you're scared of," Jaemin teases when he notices your anxious face.

"I'm not scared, I just- This is so ugly. I don't want to try it on," you tell him quietly. The lady is watching you two from her desk, and her stare is making you wary.

Jaemin notices your frequent glances at the lady. "Hey, she's not gonna do anything," Jaemin says softly. "Do you want me to go change instead?"

You shake your head no. "It's fine. I'll go." You enter the room and pull the curtains closed. It really _was_ a room. The space is big enough for at least 10 people to fit comfortably while standing. The entire back wall is just a mirror, and there's a wide, rectangular ottoman on one of the side walls. On the opposite side is a loveseat, though you don't know who the hell would want to have an audience watching them as they changed. Both the seats look almost brand new, and you wonder how much it cost the store to get them cleaned.

You hang the sweater on the wall hooks, and peel off your coat and bag, hanging them both on a hook as well. However, that's all you manage to do because the next moment, you hear the sound of glass breaking and screams. Jaemin enters the changeroom, eyes wide.

"What if I was changing?" you gasp, wrapping your arms around yourself even though you're fully clothed.

"You're not naked, it's fine," Jaemin reasons.

"What's happening outside?" you ask. He slips off his own backpack, leaning it on the ottoman and pulling out what looks like a red and blue cloth. "What are you doing, Jaemin?"

"Don't look. I'm changing." He doesn't even give you a moment to turn around before he's taking off his jacket, peeling his shirt off and unbuckling the belt on his jeans.

You yelp and spin around, and the heat that you'd manage to get rid of crawls onto your face once again.

A moment later, Jaemin says, "Okay, I'm decent." You turn around to see him in a familiar looking outfit. A red and blue suit, and in his hand, the mask to match. Your mouth drops open.

"What...? Jaemin, what are you doing?" The shouts continue, now sounding from inside the store, but you're more focused on the fact that Jaemin is wearing a freaking Spider-man suit, and it looked exactly like the one the real Spider-man was wearing when he saved you. Not a knock-off suit or a costume.

"I'll explain later. Just hide behind the couch, okay?"

"S-Spider-man?" The word comes out of your mouth in a question.

"Yes, I'm Spider-man. I swear I'll explain everything to you later. Just stay here and hide," Jaemin demands. His voice is hard, not like the regular Jaemin who spoke with a light airy tone. He pulls the mask over his face and heads out. You listen to his instructions and push the loveseat forward so you can squeeze into the space behind it. Jaemin doesn't give anymore of an explanation and runs out of the changeroom.

You try your best to listen to what's happening, but it's hard when you're in the last stall away from the main part of the store. The most you can assume is that someone was trying to rob the place. Why in broad daylight? You didn't know. Whoever these burglars were, they weren't very bright.

The sound of more glass shattering followed by a gunshot makes you jump. _They had guns_. Of fucking course they did. You're praying to whatever God was up there to keep Jaemin safe. All you wanted was to watch a movie and pretend like you're on a date with your crush. Instead, you're hiding in the freaking changeroom of some rich store, about to face your own death. You grab your phone from your pocket, thankful that you didn't keep it in your bag because you were unsure whether you'd be brave enough to stand up to get it.

You open your messages and type out a text to your group chat with all your friends.

[You]: guys I might die today

[You]: the movie doesn't start till 2 so we decided to walk around and we went into this rich fancy store and it's currently being robbed

[You]: like I just heard a gunshot a minute ago I'm actually gonna die.

[Yejiii Hwang ]: what????

[Yejiii Hwang]: are you okay?? Where's Jaemin??

[Jisung Pwark]: woah get out of there rn!!

[You]: I can't go anywhere I'm in the changing room hiding and if I go out they will see me

You're hesitant on whether you should mention Jaemin being Spider-man, but you decide not to say anything. It was his secret to tell, and if you were going to die, you didn't want to be remembered by him as someone who spilled his secret.

[You]: Jaemin's beside me but there aren't even any freaking doors it's a curtain i'm gonna die guys

[Lele Zhong]: you won't die just be really quiet

[Lucas Wong]: hey, at least you have your bf beside you lol

[You]: are you seriously joking about that rn Lucas,,,,,,

[Lucas Wong]: lol sorry but really you'll be fine they only want money

You hear sirens getting closer which means the police were at least coming. Whether that meant you were safe though... you weren't sure yet. Your fingers and hands are shaking, making it difficult for you to type on your phone as well.

[You]: the police are here I think

[Yejiii Hwang]: oh thank god

[Yejiii Hwang]: stay there until they come in and say it's safe okay?

[Jisung Pwark]: yeah^^^

[Lucas Wong]: yeah what Yeji said and also keep us updated

[You]: I'll try to

Another loud bang sounds and you once again jump. Your heart is pounding faster and at this rate, you feel like you might just die from a heart attack instead of an actual gunshot.

[You]: there was another gunshot

[Lele Zhong]: oh man stay safe (Y/N)!!!!

You vaguely hear the sound of the police entering the store and footsteps nearing your changeroom. You click your phone off and grasp it tightly in your hand. You have nowhere to run so you crouch lower and hope that whoever it is, isn't one of the bad guys. The rings of the curtain as it opens sound in your eyes and you squeeze your eyes shut.

"(Y/N)?" the voice asks softly. Jaemin. You feel yourself relax at the sound of his voice.

"Here," you managed to squeak out. Jaemin comes to where you're hiding and kneels down in front of you. He lifts his mask up to his forehead.

"We have to leave," he says quietly. He helps you stand up, and while he shoves his stuff into his backpack, you grab your own things. The ugly yellow sweater is still hanging on the hook.

After pulling the mask down onto his face again, Jaemin grabs your hand and leads you out of the changeroom. The lady that was previously behind the desk is no longer there. Instead of taking you through the front entrance of the store, Jaemin leads you to an emergency exit. He pushes it open and an alarm immediately sounds. A couple people walking by look at you both weirdly as you escape out the door and start to run, but you pay them no mind.

Once you're a block away, Jaemin grabs onto your body. "Hold on, I'm gonna jump," he warns. You wrap your arms around his neck and he shoots a web towards the three-story building nearby. The feeling of flying through the air isn't as chaotic as it was the first and second time it happened, yet you still can't find it in you to actually _feel_ how it is to fly.

Your feet land on the roof of the building, but you still don't let go of Jaemin.

"You're shaking," Jaemin notes. You don't say anything and instead, wrap your arms tightly around his waist and shrink into his chest. _Breathe_ , you remind yourself.

Jaemin holds you for god knows how long. When you finally feel that you've calmed down enough to actually look at him, you peel yourself away. Your arms drop to your side, and Jaemin takes off his mask so you can see his face.

"You alright?" he asks.

"Yeah. I'm okay now." You peer across the skyline, and you can see the various buildings around you. The people walking below look tiny.

"I should probably explain, huh?" Jaemin says. He runs his free hand through his hair nervously.

"What did you do down there?" you question.

"Just webbed them up," he answers modestly. "The police came and did the rest of the work, though."

A sudden thought runs through your head, and you back away from Jaemin.

"You knew," you say, your tone harsh. "You made me talk about my crush on you and then used that to your advantage!"

"I mean, I didn't know it was me until you said my name," he admits.

"You didn't have to embarrass me like that though. Do you know how on edge I was because I thought Spider-man told you that I liked you? And to find out that _you're_ Spider-man? That's even worse!"

"Sorry?"

You narrow your eyes at him. "Sorry doesn't mean shit."

"Uh..." Jaemin trails off, not knowing what to say.

You turn your body around so that you don't have to look at him. You speak in a softer tone, "I can't believe you just let me come here with you and teased me knowing I liked you. It would've been better if you just told me straight up you didn't like me. You didn't have to ask me to the movies and stuff."

You feel Jaemin's hand on your shoulder. "Hey, who said I didn't like you?"

You don't know how to answer that. "Why would you like me? We haven't talked in three years," you say dumbly.

"You became friends with Yeji and Lucas, and I thought you wouldn't like me back. I thought putting distance between us would help. I've liked you since we started high school too, you know." His confession makes your heart skip a beat.

You turn around to face him. "What?"

"There was also the fact that a spider bit me and I got my powers and I didn't want to drag you into this mess. I probably should have told you I was Spider-man when you told me your feelings, though. I'm sorry."

"You're joking, right? Like you're just saying this because you don't want me to feel bad, right? It's okay if you don't like me, Jaemin. I can take rejection."

Jaemin sighs. "You're so insecure. Feel my heart." He grabs your hand and lifts it to his chest. You feel his heart beating fast. _Was it because of you?_

"What if that's like one of the changes that happened when you got bitten by the spider, though?" you question.

"You're ridiculous," Jaemin groans. He lets go of your hand, letting it drop from his chest, and instead pulls you closer to him by your hips. Your chests are pressed together, and he doesn't give you any notice before his lips are pressed onto yours. Your eyes widen and your lips part, and it takes you a moment to realize what's happening.

Jaemin pulls away and you stare at him, your eyes still wide and mouth still parted. Your lips tingle where his lips touched yours.

Jaemin squeezes your hips. "I like you. Heck, maybe I even love you. (Y/N), I love you. I'm not joking."

You finally managed to catch your breath enough to speak. "Maybe you should do that again."

Jaemin tilts his head to the side in confusion before he realizes what you meant. He giggles, and seconds later his lips are pressed on yours again. This time, you actually kiss back. 


End file.
